Inkjet printers have printheads that operate a plurality of inkjets that eject liquid ink onto an image receiving member. The ink can be stored in reservoirs located within cartridges installed in the printer. Such ink can be aqueous ink or an ink emulsion. Other inkjet printers receive ink in a solid form and then melt the solid ink to generate liquid ink for ejection onto the image receiving member. In these solid ink printers, the solid ink can be provided in the form of pellets, ink sticks, granules, pastilles, or other shapes. The solid ink is typically placed in an ink loader and delivered through a feed chute or channel to a melting device that melts the ink. The melted ink is then collected in a reservoir and supplied to one or more printheads through a conduit or the like. In other inkjet printers, ink can be supplied in a gel form. The gel is also heated to a predetermined temperature to alter the viscosity of the ink so the ink is suitable for ejection by a printhead.
A typical inkjet printer uses one or more printheads. Each printhead typically contains an array of individual nozzles for ejecting drops of ink across an open gap to an image receiving member to form an image. The image receiving member can be a continuous web of recording media, a series of media sheets, or the image receiving member can be a rotating surface, such as a print drum or endless belt. Images printed on a rotating surface are later transferred to recording media by mechanical force in a transfix nip formed by the rotating surface and a transfix roller.
An external reservoir supplies ink to a manifold which dispenses heated ink through heated conduits to the printheads. The heated ink conduits, typically hoses or tubes, carry heated ink from the reservoir through the manifold to the printheads. When ink is being supplied to the printheads from the manifold, liquid ink can leak from the heated conduits either through a fault at the conduit or at points of connection where the conduit is coupled to system components, including the reservoir, the manifold, the printheads, and other locations. Should liquid ink leak into the inkjet printer and its components, a repair of the system may be required to correct the cause of the leak and to clean the area in which the ink leaked. Avoiding these repairs and the printer downtime associated with them would be beneficial.